Natrium Phosphoricum in lung-fibrosis

de Dr.Chetna N. Shukla

Interstitial Fibrosis of Lungs and Natrium phos

In the November of 1998 I was consulted by a lady of 62 years with her reports of her lungs. She looked very sad, but transmitted very good and strong energies. She had a smiling face, but it seemed that she was hiding a lot of sadness. She came with her brother who also was my patient. While he was with her she quietly and softly started to narrate. During the narration all the while she had her head tilted to one side…

“It all started with fever and they said that I have Malaria and was started on the treatment for it, but as I was not responding to the treatment they did a bronchoscopic examination of my bronchioles and they diagnosed it as Interstitial Lung Fibrosis. They said to take steroids and I didn’t want to take them so I come to you.

I had fever for 12-13 days and all the tests were done and they were all normal. The fibrosis they say is not due to the smoking I do. 6 months ago I stopped it. I feel a lot to smoke and I eat fennel instead.” (The brother leaves the room)

C: Now what is happening?"No problem, no cough. Yesterday my friend had a kitty party and after seeing my reports she said that they are treating me for Tuberculosis. No fever, no cough. It was just fever. Since only 2-3 days I get this back pain on the left side and I get a pain while I breath." (She now sits with her hand on her head)

"Is it due to the air-conditioner? Maybe I caught a chill because of the cold draft. At my daughter’s house there is a A/C."

C: Normally you don’t sleep in the A/C?"No." (A big pause and she gets silent)

C: In the past did you have any problems?"Regarding? Years ago I had a fall; I had fractured my right collar bone. It is still sticking out. I have always got a vertigo problem in the dark in the evening. It is for a lot years and I have tried a lot of doctors." ( A big pause and she gets silent again.)

C: Describe your nature?"I am a very sensitive person. I have got 3 children, 1 son and 2 daughters. My son is in Dubai, one daughter is in France and one here in Bombay. I lost my husband 5 years back, he was a pilot in the Indian Airlines. I was the youngest in my family. My husband was a Rajput (Hindu) and I a Khoja (Muslim): At present I am living all alone. My daughter visits me when her husband goes on flights. I have my two drinks every evening and that is my habit. That’s all!"

"My son is married to a Catholic for 12 years. Being a Rajput’s son last year he was converted to a Catholic. It hurt me badly. My eldest daughter is in France and is divorced from her husband. She is living alone with her 7 year old daughter. It is a tension for me. My youngest daughter was an air hostess and didn’t want to get married because of me, that who will look after me. We forced her to get married. She is expecting now. I go to her often. In the building we have kitty party all ladies get together 2-3 times a week."

"I think I have said everything!"

"I get hurt very soon, am sensitive. I don’t express my inner feelings to people. I would rather suffer myself than let people suffer."

"Enough! That’s all! What else do I say, I have said everything!"

C: Describe this sensitivity?"It is whatever I have said to you. Loneliness eats me up from the inside. Tell me now what to do…You think that I will get better without steroids?"

C: I think we can do it with out steroids, but if we need we will start, but at present we don’t need them."At present I am taking Calcium and Vitamins. He asked me to get these tests done. If I don’t need steroids why should I go to him?"

C: Be honest to him, say I didn’t want to take steroids and I wanted to try homoeopathy."What is this fibrosis due to? They have done a biopsy and it also shows that. What are you going to give me?"

C: Good medicine!"These small sweet tablets!" (Smiling)

C: What hurts you the most?"When my children are not happy and healthy! Whenever anything happens to them I pray to God and keep a vow for them, or fast for them. I went through all this (sickness), but I didn’t ask anything at all from God, I ask only for my kids, that nothing should happen to them. I only worry is for my children."

C: What is the worry?"What will happen to them!? How her life will go on. She is still not divorced. I worry for that small girl. They are in a foreign land. She had married a Frenchman. My son is not supporting me in any way. My son in law does. To depend on him is another tension.
I feel like a cigarette now!"( Weepy, there were tears in her eyes)

C: you have tears in your eyes?"Yes!"

C: I will give you some sweets instead (My preceding patient, a little boy had left me some round sweet balls of different colours, these I gave to her and she took one .) "If sometimes I smoke will it harm me? Just for the fun of it !"

C: Yes it is. You wept?"I feel for my children. (Reaching to take another sweet). Like I said, I am staying with my daughter. My son sends some money as and when he feels like. I say to him, send me every month, but he never does."

C: What do you feel when he doesn’t look after you?"After marriage sons always belong to their wives and not mother.
What is this pain that I get due to? Many times I get a catch in the chest and I am better drinking water. It could be gas? I get cramps also in my feet; doctor said it is calcium deficiency.
When do I have to come again to see you ?"

C: I still need to talk to you."You ask questions and I will answer."

C: It hurts that your son doesn’t care for you!?"I feel obligated to my son-in-law. Even my daughter from France sends me some money. At present my daughter in law and grand son are here, they came yesterday. Last year he was with me for a year since my son could not afford to keep him there."

C: Son-in –law?"Is good natured. He is a pilot. He is a non-veg and my daughter is a vegetarian. He never wanted my daughter to work. It is a love marriage. One daughter married a Frenchman, my son married to a catholic and she married to a South Indian. My husband a Rajput and I am a Muslim. We are a cosmopolitan family."

C :Do you feel obligated?"Still I rather have my son look after me than my son-in-law. But somehow going to his house and staying I can’t. Same thing I feel at Dubai at my son’s house too. I feel like an outsider. I went twice to Dubai, once for my grandson’s pregnancy and once more. My daughter in law is very possessive of my son."

C: Outsider?"Yes. The same I feel, I feel obligated with my son-in law. I don’t feel a right to stay there. It is my daughters house, it does make a difference. I do shuttle work, knitting. My daughter is pregnant and I made 5 sets already. My daughter has a daughter and son has a son. Whenever all my friends’ kids are expecting I knit for them, nothing else to do. I pass my time knitting. In 8 days I finish knitting. I will bring to show it to you."

C: What do you think while you are knitting?"Nothing. "

C: What else?"I love plants. I have green fingers. I have 20 of them. I like lilies, and all greens. I don’t like flowering plants, I like greens."

C: What else?"I love sunshine and sunset."

C: You live close to the sea?"Yes. I was surrounded by the sea when I came to stay here. I am on the 7th floor on the top and can see the sea still. I am alone so I feel there is no sense in getting up so early. I get up at 6.30 and go to sleep again and wake up at 8.30 a.m."

C: You get any dreams?"Yes in the mornings. This one I got 2-3 times, it is that I am sitting in the sand and am moving my fingers in it and I suddenly find money, a lot of coins. I also get dreams of flying and my eyes open." ( Smiling)

C: Do you like birds?"Yes I have a lot of pigeons and one of them sits near the bathroom and today she gave the 8th egg. I tell my servant not to touch it."

"I am fond of dogs, one died at 10 years and the other when he was 14. I want one since I am alone, but since I play cards between 2-7 p.m., I would not like to leave it. They are like a child and you get so attached to them, they become like family members. Till today whenever I open my door I feel my dog will come."

"Anything else you want to ask ? I am tired. I woke up very early as I had to come here. I didn’t sleep again as I thought that I won't be able to go to sleep again."

C: You have a nice name, what does it mean?"It means “sugar”. I love to eat sugar and potatoes. I can take pungent and a lot of green chillies."

Individualization:

Here was a serious, sad lady feeling like an “outsider” with her son because of the possessive daughter-in-law and also with her very nice and caring son-in-law. This “outsider” feeling made her feel lonely and so she tries to indulge in some outside company by being sociable at kitty parties and playing cards and gifting sweaters to others which she knitted in her loneliness. Living her outsider feeling she indulges into lonely activities like knitting and tending to plants. Although she would like to have a dog as company, as a family member she does not want to leave the animal alone as she is knows how much it hurts to feel lonely.

Her speech was precise. Although I could with enough prodding get quite a bit of emotional information, there was a lot of self restrain.

Her main cause of worry was her children and not her self, but although so attached to them it was with them that she felt like an outsider.

The individualizing symptoms from her story of her self can be…
1. Seriousness
2. Sadness
3. Sociability
4. Cravings: Sweets, potatoes, and pungent
5. Estranged feeling (outsider)
6. Anxiety about the health of her children

The quintessence of Natrium’s is being an “outsider”. This is from the fact that Na+2 ion is an extra cellular ion, it is the principal ion that is outside the cell. The disposition of our patient to feel like an “outsider” guided me to Natrium. Was it justified to make such a synthetic prescription?

What about the Anxiety as to the health of her children as she put it in her words…“When my children are not happy and healthy! Whenever anything happens to them I pray to God and keep a vow for them, or fast for them. I went through all this (sickness), but I didn’t ask anything at all from God, I ask only for my kids, that nothing should happen to them. My only worry is for my children.”

The sweets and potatoes did point towards Natrium phos, but this anxiety about children?
I decided to read all the Natrium’s (un fragmented picture, non repertory picture) and I found this in "The Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica" by T.F. Allen I read under Natrum-Phos thus…“Awakens; fears his child, who has a trifling ailment, is dead; he goes to her room to relieve the otherwise ineffaceable impression”
(This is not present in most repertories!)

And later everything fell into place, the craving for potatoes, the strong taste of pungent food, the indulging in sweets and the state of the mind and the disposition!

What helped me was the study into the proving symptoms of the remedy, although none of the other books mention this symptom for Nat-Phos.

The choice of the remedy was clear, Nat- Phos in the 200 C, single dose to start.

Follow Up:
Within a month her stitch in the chest disappeared and the sleep got better. She started gaining weight and her energies started to get happier. In the July of 99, I asked for a repeat X-ray and it was reported to be clear of the Interstitial Fibrosis picture.

Meanwhile her daughter delivered another child and she stayed with her comfortably caring for her. She still thinks of her children, but also cares for herself. The son still does not care for her, it pains her, but she accepts.

As she put it…“If he does not call me up from Dubai, I call him up and speak to him whenever I feel like talking to him.”

After she started to live with her daughter, she needed a dose of 1000 C to help her with the feeling of her missing the affection of her son (although the son in law was a gem, as she liked to put it). She would visit me once in two months free of any complaints, her weight steady at 62 kg, smoking two cigarettes a day, having two pegs of wine a day in the evening and living a full life with her daughter and her grand children.

As she puts it…“I don’t feel the deep sadness from the inside anymore. But I still worry about my children, they are my only family. It is too much work to care for my grand children; it keeps me so busy that I don’t get time to myself."